Looking for the Helpers

One of my favorite stories – about children and tragedy, about the power of giving and volunteering, and about the calming encouragement of a mother’s wisdom – comes from the wonderful Fred Rogers. Fred often recalled that, when bad things happened, his mother encouraged him to “look for the helpers.” In any bad situation, she assured him, there are always helpers trying to make things better.

In this posting, I am looking for the helpers.

There is more going on in our communities – well covered in the media – about threats to our sense of community wellbeing than I can summarize here (and I’m sure I don’t need to repeat it for you). These threats begin as both natural and human tragedy. My moments of reassurance come when a family funder tells me about a grant or project they’ve launched to restore and reinvigorate community. Often, these are efforts to ameliorate suffering but also to get at root circumstances and causes.

If you have been part of conversations, projects or grants to address:

Loss and displacement by floods or fires;

Racial and religious tensions;

Civic relationships – especially with police and other first responders; and/or

Other long-standing problems in your communities,

I would love to hear from you!

Send me an email, press clipping, link to a webpage, or video/audio clip – whichever communications strategy is easiest for you. We will compile the stories of recovery, reconciliation, and hopefulness. Next time a funder or community leader asks me what donor families are doing to help, I’ll have plenty of optimistic tales of the helpers.

About the Author

Virginia M. Esposito, is the founder and president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. For more than 35 years, she has worked to advance private philanthropy through research and education. For 30 of those years, she has focused on the family philanthropic experience, promoting values, vision, and excellence across generations of donor families. Ginny was editor and principal author of the first edition of Splendid Legacy and of Splendid Legacy 2: Creating and Recreating Your Family Foundation. Her research publications include The Power to Produce Wonders: The Value of Family in Philanthropy and The Family Foundation CEO: Crafting Consensus out of Complexity. Ginny also edited, and was principal author of, the four-volume Family Foundation Library and numerous articles and issue papers on family philanthropy. She has presented at hundreds of programs for and about donor families throughout North America and on four other continents. In addition to her work on family philanthropy, Ginny edited Conscience and Community: The Legacy of Paul Ylvisaker, the writings and speeches of the late foundation trustee, educator, and dean of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. She has served on boards and committees for organizations including Great Nonprofits, the Binational Commission on the Nonprofit Sector (U.S. and South Africa), the Commission on the Future of Public Education (Public Education Network), Committee on Ethics and Accountability (Independent Sector), the Philanthropy and the Black Church Project, and Strengthening Native American Philanthropy. She currently serves on the board of directors of the John M. Belk Endowment.

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